


But I am not resigned

by Fishandchickennuggetsplease



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, But also, F/F, Fluff, I promise at least a somewhat happy ending, SO, Serpent centric, alternative universe- the serpents are an actual gang, choni centric, not just petty criminals on moterbikes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-05-23 19:36:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 13,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14940549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fishandchickennuggetsplease/pseuds/Fishandchickennuggetsplease
Summary: “Just one question, Topaz. Do you regret it?”She knows this is the chance to lessen her sentence and maybe survive the night, but images of red hair in the breeze, sunlight on her skin through the windows of coffee shops, the scent of vanilla and cherry cola swirl around her mind, overwhelming her and offering her a strange sort of calm.“No. I don’t.”___________How Cheryl and Toni find each other, even in the darkest of times.





	1. The favour

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everybody, this is my first multi chapter story on here and I really hope you enjoy!
> 
> I’ve liked getting to know the serpents in season 2, however i wanted to explore how the relationship between Cheryl and Toni would be affected if the serpents were an actual, criminal gang, so we’ll see how this goes!

She feels the brass knuckles against her jaw even before the punch lands, and her neck snaps backwards from the force, her whole body sinking down into the chair. Another lands in quick succession, her eye, then another and another, her nose this time. She feels nauseous as the taste of blood hits her tongue when she speaks.

 

“Ya know, Tall Boy, doesn’t surprise me you’re the one okay with punching a girl.”

 

The clearly furious man looming over her snarls, “Shut your fucking mouth, Topaz. Or I’ll make you.” His hand recoils again and she braces herself for the next punch until the voice of FP Jones breaks the tension.

 

“Stand down Tall Boy.” He says as he enters Toni’s limited field of view from her position tied to a rusting metal chair, and upon Tall Boy’s inaction, he snarls again.“I said stand down!” The taller man spits in her face before retreating into the shadows, his presence in her personal space immediately replaced by the beady dark eyes of FP Jones.

 

“Just one question, Topaz. Do you regret it?”

 

She knows this is the chance to lessen her sentence and maybe survive the night, but images of red hair in the breeze, sunlight on her skin through the windows of coffee shops, the scent of vanilla and cheery cola swirl around her mind, overwhelming her and offering her a strange sort of calm.

 

“No. I don’t.” Her own voice sounds confident in the confession, and the expression on FP’s face is a shade of utter heartbrokenness, a shade too fatherly for Toni to be able to look at. He lets out a shaky breath. “Okay then.” He gives her one last look, before turning his head to the men in the shadows. “You know the punishment for betrayal against our kind then, boys.”

 

Her eyes, feeling heavy from the blood loss, flutter shut before the next punch even lands, and Toni’s last thought is of her before the world turns to black.

 

———————-

 

The story began, as many in Toni’s lifetime had, with a favour, good intentions and a stream of expletives. She had felt the familiarly large weight of her best friend land on the double mattress they shared, and came to as her began to blow air into her left ear in an attempt to waken her.

 

“What the hell? Sweets what is this shit it’s four fucking o’clock on the morning, you piece of crap...”

 

“Shut up Tiny, just wake up already.” He sighed.

 

She sat fully up and pulled her blanket around her. “Fine, I’m awake. What do you need? I literally only went to bed an hour ago.”

 

“Screw that. I need a favour.”

 

“Seriously?” She groaned at the thought of leaving her warm bed after purposely taking an early nigh by serpent standards. “What do you need?”

 

He had the decency to look sheepish. “I have a meeting down at the school tomorrow morning and I really need to do well, would you do my job tonight so I can get some sleep?” A hint of pleading crept into his voice, “Please T. I’m finally getting close, I’d ask Fangs but...”

 

They both looked over at the barely lucid third member of their little band, still recovering from a bullet wound in the leg he obtained a few weeks ago, and Toni rolls out of bed.

 

“Only because I love you and I’m proud of you, Sweets.” He was in the middle of trying to get his GED after leaving school much earlier than anyone really should, and she understands how important it is to her best friend that he has the skills to move up in the world, even if that means splitting his loyalties for the time being.

 

“I owe you one, Tiny.”

 

“You owe her a lot more than ‘one’, Sweets” murmured Fangs unexpectedly, causing them all to laugh softly. This, right here, was worth protecting, and she’d do any job in the world with the serpents to keep it safe.

 

 

 

Twenty minutes later and five apartments down the hall, Toni swung around the doorframe into what was this week’s serpent headquarters to take on whatever job they had lined up for Sweet Pea, hoping its one she’ll be able to complete woth no difficulties. FP Jones had a tendency to use Sweets as means to ‘influence’ their overdue clients into paying their dues, and she wouldn’t fool anyone if she was used as muscle.

 

Tall Boy shot her an odd glance as she entered, having seen her retire to the tiny apartment she shared with Fangs and Sweet Pea earlier in the night, while Byrdie recognised her with a playful salute and FP Jones turned around to greet her.

 

“Reporting for duty, boss.” She said playfully, and the older man had laughed at her a little.

 

“You’re not due to run tonight, Topaz.”

 

“Sweets is sick.” The lie slips off her tongue easily and no one bothers to question her, with FP turning to hand her a map and a little black bag, a clear indication of the nature of tonight’s job.

 

Upon her troubled look at the route marked on the Riverdale City map, Byrdie helpfully added that it was a new drop off location with some clients from Greendale.

 

“So don’t. mess. it. up.” Tall Boy growled from his position in a worn armchair in the corner. It felt like a dismissal, so Toni returned the mock salute from earlier and strode out of the room, taking the stairs two at a time and pushing the doors open into the cool night air in their particular outskirts of the city, ready for another night of mundane serpent work. 


	2. The encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we meet Cheryl! Some details, mainly about the setting and preexisting character relationships have been changed to fit where I want this story to go, so I hope you enjoy this next chapter! 
> 
> Also, the title of this work as a whole is taken from the poem ‘dirge without music’, for anyone wondering!

Had her life played out differently, Toni could see herself loving Riverdale City. The whole city centre sparkled with activity at all hours of the day, with the sounds of bustling cafes and outdoor markets in the morning light giving way to cars whizzing by ambiant restaurants to neon signs and a vivid nightlife. Collage students roamed all over, as well as young families building a life in the city. (Both groups were experts at studiously ignoring the abject poverty of the outskirts of town.) Had her life played out differently, she likes to think she’d have studied art at one of those particularly hipster collages, and lived in spacious campus dorms and spent her weekends getting brunch and falling in love with pretty girls on the bus.

 

Instead, she shivers behind a dumpster in the grimy ally behind a club that doubles as the serpents latest drop off point.

 

Her phone screen helpfully informs her there only four minutes left until the drop off will occur and she thanks whoever is out there in the universe that the wait will be quick. For November, the night is bitterly cold, and she'd been so warm in her bed back at the tower block they called home and headquarters.

 

Three minutes to go, and she hears the clatter of someone running in heels over the bustle of the streets outside. Two and a half minutes, the source of the noise runs down the alley and flattens herself against the wall of the alley, clearly trying to catch her breath through her sobs.

 

Serpents are supposed to keep a low profile whenever their presence is not required. These drug exchanges only happen because they are silent snakes that lie in wait- so every fibre of her being seems to warn against engaging with the girl.

 

"Hey, are you okay?"

 

The girl's silhouette whirled around, shocked by the presence of someone else in the alley. Toni peeked her head out just slightly more from her hiding spot.

 

"Do you need any help?" Two minutes until the drop.

 

She could just make out the girl pulling herself together by the faint neon light of the fire exit sign to their right. “Of course not. I’m perfectly fine. Just hiding from a particularly bad date."

 

Toni found herself warming to the girl in the shadows for no real reason, except that in her world of semi nocturnal gang activity and it's testosterone fuelled members, a moment of genuine conversation is rare, welcome. "That's rough."

 

"No way will he catch up to me. That's the last time I let Mr Nick Saint Claire take me on a date." She sounded confident despite the hitch in her voice suggesting she's been crying, and somethingabout the contradiction intrigued Toni. One minute until drop off, and the girl returns with her own question. "What are you doing here anyway?"

 

A reminder of her purposes snapped her back to her senses. "Can't tell you. Quick, take my position."

 

"Wha-" she decided to just obey, the other girl clearly remembering how potentially dangerous this position was, alone and at least tipsy with a shady figure in the middle of the night. Toni stepped out into the alley, allowing her to squeeze close to the wall. Thirty seconds. She raised her hand in the serpent symbol, and a young man, previously concealed in a balcony above her, dropped to the cobbled path. The black bag exchanged hands, a roll of money fell into the depths of Toni's jacket, and just like that, another job was done.

 

Except for the problem of the girl with her in the alley, so she turned in her heel and pressed her face close to the other girls. At this distance, her perfectly painted red lips and delicate features framed by strands of red hairserve as an incredibly good distraction, but somewhere in the back of her mind she hears Fangs jokingly telling her to ‘tuck the gay away’ and so mustered her face into a glare.

 

“You’re a serpent?” She breathes softly.

 

“Damn right I am. And you’re going to keep your damn mouth shut about what you saw tonight, or else we will track you down and raise. hell.” She draws the final words out to emphasise her point, and the girl looks suitably silenced. She can’t help herself though, and adds “and dump the boyfriend, clearly you’re better than that.”

 

Still pressed close together in the alley, the girl smirks up at her. “I love the pink hair. Very ‘scary gang’-esque.” Toni suppresses a disbelieving laugh at the boldness of the girl who less than ten minutes ago entered the alley crying her eyes out. “I’m Cheryl. And for the record, feel free to send your serpent amis to track down my miserable parents, I could use rid of them, if you’ve got a spare pair of hands.”

 

She ceremoniously picked herself up from the floor and straightened her black cocktail dress. “I’ll see you around...”

 

She indicates that she’s waiting for a name. “Uh, Toni.”

 

“Then I’ll see you around, Toni.” And with that Cheryl rounded the corner, leaving Toni to shiver against her thin jacket in the crisp air and try to make sense of the whole ordeal on the bus ride back to the southside.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading :)


	3. The plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I’m back with another update, and we’re starting to move into the more romantic part of this little story... I do plan to flesh out the serpents’ world and some back stories on the charactres, but I want to build relationships first! Hope you enjoy this one :)

She was sitting on the cracked leather sofa in their apartment a week later when Sweet Pea stormed in a slammed the door shut, shaking the frame and causing Fangs, busy making pancakes for dinner in their minuscule kitchenette, to jump in surprise.

 

She immediately slammed Sweet Pea's laptop shut on top of her legs. It had been rather easy to track down the mysterious Cheryl on Instragram after she'd found it damn near impossible to forget their encounter, and while she felt bad about using the computer Pea needed for his school work for something as trivial as social media, she couldn't bring herself to regret it.

 

After locating the Nick Saint Claire (who's bio declared him to be ‘Riverdale City's most ineligible bachelor’,confirming her suspicions about the boy) Cheryl had mentioned that night, Toni had quickly found the girl under@cherylbomshell on instagram. All the personality traits she'd seen glimpses of that night, the sarcasm, the humour and the intensity, were evident in the endless aesthetic snaps of little clubbing dresses, rows of red lipsticks and black and white shots of her friends that filled her page. Toni was a little obsessed, she'd admit, although she was adamant to hide the fact from her best boys in case she got them all in trouble with the higher ups.

 

The same higher ups, it was clear, who had just chastised Sweet Pea.

 

"Whoa, Sweets,what's up? You look like you've just been told Brooklyn nine nine is getting cancelled again." Fangs had said from the counter, trying to keep the tone light despite the glowering look the taller boy shot at him in response.

 

"Konck it off Fangs. Fucking FP Jones just stopped me in the corridor, suggested that the drop off spot I spent a month planning for the new Greendale buyers is compromised, one damn week after the first drop!' He released in an angry burst, emphasising his last words with a punch to the wall before falling onto the couch beside Toni.

 

Her throats constricted, thinking of her actions at the aforementioned drop off spot the week previous. "Why does he think it's compromised?"

 

"Hogeye saw the same girl hanging around there a few nights his week when he was out collecting rent."

 

While of course 'collecting rent' was a euphemism for the much darker truth of the matter, it seemed only logical that Cheryl was the one lurking around the spot. She hated that her actions might cost Sweets the rank he was working hard to maintain within their gang.

 

Thankfully Fangs piped up. "What are they gonna do?"

 

"Send out a stakeout team, he says. But what bastard is going to volunteer to sit out in the freezing weather to cover my ass?" Sweet Pea seemed back on the verge of punching something, so she did the only thing to fix her mistakes.

 

"I'll go."

 

Sweet Pea looked at her in semi-disbelief. "You will? I owe you yet again, Topaz." He let out a little laugh before continuing, most of the tension gone from his face as he focused on the smell wafting through the apartment instead. “Now, about those pancakes?"

 

They moved to the table (laid with cutlery stolen from a local shop going out of business and surrounded by mis matched chairs, including a bar stool with the bottom 40 centimetres sawn off the legs) and Fangs delivered the plate of promised food, but all Toni could think was how really, it was her that owed him.

 

 

 

 

With pancakes long gone from the table and having persuaded Jughead that really, he should have a nice evening in with Betty and that she'd be fine going on the stakeout by herself, Toni shrugged on herjacket and caught the bus. She was trying not to second guess herself, trying to convince herself Cheryl would be there and she could scare the redhead from coming there again as she settled into the spot Tall Boy had assigned to her.

 

What felt like hours passed by, a siren screeched in the distance, people stumbled through the glowing streets lit by neon red lights below her, until a figure walked into the alley below Toni and stood in wait. The hood of the figure’s black jumper concealed their face, but a glimpse of red hair assured her that her gut feeling was right. Cheryl blossom was here, looking for her, and the thrill and terror of it all made her dizzy.

 

She jumped down the fire escape from her rooftop view of the drop off point onto the cobbled alley, and Cheryl turned around to face her, breaking into a grin. Toni thought of Sweet Pea and the look of pure anger and fear on his face mere hours before, and moulded her expression into a scowl.

 

She pushed the taller girl in the arm, with enough force to make her stumble ever so slightly. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing here?”

 

Oddly unfazed, Cheryl continued to smile. “Waiting for you to show up again. Clearly it worked.”

 

“No, it didn’t work. It got my friend in trouble, and now I’m here to tell you to never come here again, dare you ruin this location,for the serpents.” The anger in her voice was unwavering, and Cheryl began to look appropriately worried. Good, Toni thought. This could be easier than first expected.

 

“How else was I supposed to find a pretty serpent girl who was kind to me, if not by coming back to the place we met?” The question and compliment stunned Toni for a beat.

 

“And why would you want to find me again?”

 

Cheryl looked at her like she was being deliberately awkward. “It’s as I said. You were kind to me while i was running away from a date with Nick Saint Dick, you’re pretty, and quite simply, I wanted to see you.”

 

Confronted with the extraordinarily upfront words, Toni decided to drop the tough act and plead instead. “Well, I wanted to see you too,” she admitted, “but you being here has raised suspicion Cheryl. Please, please, don’t come here again.”

 

Her answer came back immediately. “Okay, I won’t, for you and your friend.” She paused, seemingly in thought. “But I want something in return.” The grin reappeared on her face, and Toni fought to keep her face from breaking into a matching expression.

 

“What sort of something?” She let a teasing tone creep into her voice.

 

“Your full name, phone number and instagram, in return for my word I’ll never come here again. That way, I’ll have no need to.”

 

“Don’t have one, can’t tell you, Toni Topaz,” she rhymed off, before adding cheekily, “in reverse order.” She earns a laugh from Cheryl, and something lights up inside of her like it did during their first encounter.

 

“Damn. How does anyone ever keep track of you?”

 

“I’m in a gang. I’m supposed to be hard to track.” At her words, Cheryl seemed once again lost in thought, and the two stood in oddly comfortable silence.

 

“Okay then. Meet me at three o’clock at the donut place on Sweetwater Way, tomorrow.” Cheryl was back to grinning, and Toni finally allowed herself a wry smile. She didn’t know how she’d convincingly explain a trip to a donut shop on the rich side of the city to her fellow serpents, but found herself confirming. “Of course. I’ll be there.”

 

Cheryl looked her up and down, practically eye fucking her right there and then, catching sight of the ink on her skin that shows under her cropped top, the thick black combat boots on her small feet and the glint of a knife in her belt. It was clear she liked what she saw of Toni, who began to blush into the dark.

 

“See you then, Topaz.” Her use of a nickname seemed loaded with tension, and it’s all Toni can do to shoot back “of course, Blossom.” with a wink as the red headed girl rounded the corner away from her.

 

The rest of the stakeout was unsurprisingly uneventful, and Toni found herself staring out over the city, thoughts flying between pretty girls in alleyways, Fangs and Sweet Pea in their little shared bedroom, FP Jones’ proud look when she did a drop off or extortion well,donuts on Sweetwater way... and she felt torn for the first time ever over loyalty to the people she’s called family since 13 years old.

 


	4. The date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody, sorry for the delay in updates, life got a little crazy for a few days! Hope you enjoy this chapter as we see a lighter side to Toni and a little more serpent history :)

Over her relatively short life, the Serpents had given her a lot. They had given her a grandfather who taught her to ride her bike on the playing fields and given her ice cream past her bedtime; given her a sort of surrogate father in FP, back when he was mostly sober, who made her and Jughead hot chocolate after snowball fights each January; had given her the chance to know her Dad in some capacity, memorialised in stories from older members and fading pictures.

At 13 years old, when she realised she was totally alone in the world, they had given her a family, an apartment, a leather jacket and a tattoo, a sense of belonging, a purpose and some income. And maybe most importantly, they had given her the two people she cared about most- Sweet Pea and Fangs. The three had met years ago, when Toni was six years old, the shortest in her class, and the Fogartys moved into serpent territory. She and Sweet Pea- in what they had simply viewed as an anti-big kids alliance at the time- had helped Fang chase some older boys off the swing set, but one thing led to another and the three had become the rulers of the swing set for the week, and became inseparable as a consequence.

(Toni, Fangs, Sweet Pea. It was the three of them against the world, making memories and getting through the darkest moments in their lives. The serpents talk a lot about total loyalty to their organisation, but Toni knows exactly who she'd take a bullet for.)

But for everything they had given her, they had taken much much more away. A chance at college education. A normal sleep schedule. Innocence. The ability to look everyone she meets in the eye. Her Mom, killed by gunfire in a serpent-ghoulie shoot out when Toni was nine. A regular teenage life, meeting girls, going to cafes, studying for finals, heading to parties with cheap beer- although that may be about to change.

She walked down the long central road in the city, with Sweetwater river running along side her to the left and felt like this was something no one had given her or tried to take. Toni couldn't help but feel she'd torn a page out of someone else's life and was living it, walking along through the busy streets and wearing more colour than she had in at least a year- her clean white t-shirt was tucked into light denim wash jeans, pink hair half up in little space buns, the remaining bulk of it trailing down her back. She wondered briefly if Cheryl would even recognise her like this, in the broad daylight- but as she approached the address written on a scrap piece of paper, she realised she needn't have worried.

Cheryl had stood there nervously, looking even more damn beautiful in broad daylight that Toni thought possible, with her face lighting up at the sight of her shorter girl striding towards her.

"Toni, hey! I can hardly believe you came." She chirped, clearly delighted to see her again.

Toni grinned, the action becoming a habit around the redhead. "Of course I came. I gave you my word."

Cheryl laughed softly. "How would I know if your stick to your word?"

"Well," Toni lingered on the word, letting herself flirt, "you know now that I'll stick to it for you."

"You're smart." Cheryl commented, more as an observation to herself than an outright compliment, but Toni blushed anyway. "Shall we?" She continued, gesturing to the cafe behind them, and that's when Toni walks into heaven.

Inside the glass cases embedded in the counter tops sit what seems like hundreds of perfectly crafted donuts. Some beg to be eaten, their thick layers of glossy chocolate catching the light, while others look too good to be touched by mortal hands, with delicate patterns and toppings adorning them. Cheryl chose something deeply unexpected, a maple syrup and bacon donut, but Toni was less adventurous, picking out a simple chocolate ring. Like a true date, Cheryl insisted on paying (which suited her just fine, because the money stuffed in her back pocket that she'd earned on a job originally belonged to the petty cash of a rich riverdale designer store whose owners had slammed the serpents in the papers the previous month, and this date right now was not about that side of her life).

The two of them had taken their seats, and simply stared at the other for a long moment, before bursting into laughter, any tension from the sheer craziness of the situation broken. Cheryl took a sip of the cherry cola she'd picked up. "So tell me about yourself, Topaz."

And she does. She explained how she was practically born into the serpents, both her parents having been members, and how she'd grown up with green patches on leather jackets all around her. She tells her about Fangs and Sweet Pea, their tiny apartment and how it's the safest place in the world, about Jughead, with the weight of inheriting a gang already on his shoulders and about Betty, who would be by his side through all of it. She tells her about photography and art and her favourite poem that she reads when she feels alone in the world, about finishing school at 16 years old to work jobs full time to earn more money for a camera. Cheryl listened intently, studying her as she talked- Toni had never been so vulnerable, but something in the other girl's brown eyes made her ache to be honest and open about all her experiences.

The conversation took a more general turn after that, and they marvelled a little at liking all the same movies, all the same foods. Finally, Toni felt it was only polite to ask. "So what about you?"

Cheryl looked amused. "What about me?"

"Well, I told you all about my life, but I want to hear about yours," she continued.

The thought of someone wanting to know Cheryl seemed a little foreign to her, and Toni's mind flashed back to all those friends on endless nights out splashed on her Instagram.

"Well," she sounded cautious as she picked her words, "there's not much to know. I live with my parents, I'm a twin- my brothers name was Jason, I'm moving into the heart of the city to study pre-law in the fall."

Toni picked up on the use of past tense but doesn't dare push it, and asked instead, "so why law?"

She figured Cheryl must be lonely. Her answers about herself take thought, consideration, like she didn't know how to express herself when someone actually wanted to listen. "Um. I really want to go into family law, custody cases and emancipation cases, adoption... I want to be able to help those sorts of kids get the best deal possible."

"Hey, that's pretty awesome. You're going places, Blossom." She responded encouragingly, and the genuinely compliment makes it Cheryl's turn to blush just a little.

It's only when the sun shining through the large windows of the shop turned to golden, the dappled sunlight through the trees painting patterns on the wall behind Cheryl, that they thought about leaving, walking out hand in hand. It was a beautiful evening, strangely warm for the time of year. The two girls watched the world pass for a moment as rush hour began, people heading home to make the dinner and school kids hanging out in little groups, reluctant to leave.  
Finally Toni decided to go for it. She leaned towards her, and their lips met in a gentle kiss, tasting of cherry cola and sweet sweet sugar, and something else- something that Toni never thought it would be possible for her to have in her life.

They bid eachother goodbye before heading back to their own worlds, as Cheryl, breathless, asked "when will I see you again?"

There's a fear in her big brown eyes that this could all be ending, and Toni wants to take that look off her face forever somehow. "Okay. It's my turn to take you somewhere. So how about you meet me here..." she paused and she scribbles the address of the highest tower block in her neighbourhood, "at 5 am on Saturday morning?" She finished, grinning wickedly.

Cheryl looked cautious. "Why at that time?'

Toni had let laughter bubble up, "Why Cheryl, do you think I'll take you to engage in criminal activity at that hour?" she said teasingly in her best posh accent.

"No! Some of us just like our beauty sleep, you know." She seemed slowly more eager though and eventually relented her mock annoyance. "Fine, It's a date. I'll miss you until then" she admitted.

Toni smiled a little more sadly this time. "Yeah, I'm going to miss you, too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, the centre of riverdale city in this fic is loosely based on Dublin and a donut shop I went to there!


	5. The development

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little longer than previous, so I hope you enjoy it! I tried to include a little touch of serpent Jughead in here as well as expanding on how being in a criminal gang affects Toni and how she sees the world, so let me know what you think!

She ends up asking Betty about her. Betty had waltzed into their lives just over a year ago now, when she earned her black leather jacket and became the answer to the question of where Jughead had been spending all his time. The two had a proper teenage love story, with Betty giving up her quaint little life in the suburbs (where she’d lived her entire life despite the serpent blood on her mother's side) to live in a shitty apartment in the busiest serpent neighbourhood to be with her boyfriend. Initially, Toni had been wary of the blonde and her intentions with her childhood playmate, but now she couldn’t help but think that Betty brought out the best in Jughead- he’d been more happy this past year than she’d ever seen him. Betty had ended up a sort of confidant too, when she wasn’t busy juggling her senior year and her serpent commitments, and Toni decided to seize her moment when they were alone.

 

She had been waiting for Jughead in their little living room to come with her to a meeting that eveningwhen she’d worked up the courage to ask.

 

“Bets, you ever heard of Cheryl Blossom?” She’d tired to keep the tone conversational, but saw how Betty’s hands stilled at the mention.

 

“Um yeah, she was the year above me. We payed football against her school a lot. Why?” Betty responded, face clearly guarded. Shit, Toni thought, she hadn’t thought of a good way to explain her interest, other than ‘I’m secretly meeting up with her and betraying serpent law because she's fucking gorgeous."

 

“Just...heard the name a few times recently, and I was curious,” she managed to stutter, with a slight smile tugging at her lips.

 

“Well,” Betty said, seeming to consider her words carefully before choosing to be blunt, “I’d stay away if you ever meet her. Total bitch, captain of the cheerleading squad and always on nights out trying to bury her family issues with alcohol, that sort of thing.”

 

Toni fell into silence for a second, trying to reconcile the harsh picture Betty was painting with the sweet girl in alleyways and donut shops she was definitely falling for. “Okay, you seem to have her sussed out Bets,” she lied with a smirk. “Good to know.”

 

Jughead rounded the corner from the bathroom, hair finally styled the way a King Among Men should. (the Jones were somewhere near Gods in the serpent hierarchy, allowing for him to be late to every meeting and date whoever he liked, a luxury not extended to ordinary members).

 

“Good, you’re ready at last.” She smiled at him. “We’d better get going.”

 

“Okay fine,” he paused to lean down and press a kiss to Betty’s lips. “I’ll be home super late, I’d say," he added to her, "so don't wait up."

 

The made their final goodbyes and headed to the Wyrm, which was even more packed with members than usual. The two got lost in the throng of the crowd, having a bit of a catch up while they waited for someone to start the proceedings when Tall Boy took to the stage.

 

His loyalist attitude always meant he had a flair for dramatics, but as he had stood there he seemed to quake.

 

"Brothers. Sisters. Serpents." He punctuated each word with a hard stare at the crowd. "We are under attack!" He roared. A wave of gasps and chants rose from the group.

 

"This month, 20 of our very own have suffered bullet wounds at the hands of our ghoulish rivals," he continued, his tone low and angry. "Are we going to stand for this?"

 

A few scattered cries of no rose from the group, so he leaned in closer to the mic. "I said, are we going to stand for this?!"

 

A louder cry rose through the building, Toni and Jughead shouting as well, their voices adding to the echoing cry.

 

"So, we're going to teach them a lesson. You all have been specially selected to run a special job tonight." He took a pause, a sadistic gleam entering his eyes. (Toni had inwardly shuddered, having always been wary of him.)

 

"Tonight, we torch their safe house! Burn it down so that they never forget who we are and why we are to be feared!" He looked close to frenzied, and continued, "in unity there is strength!"

 

The whole room echoed the command and set about planning their assault on Ghoulie territory. Toni’s thoughts were consumed with Fangs, one of the serpents shot recently, throughout the gathering equipment as she’d piled guns into duffle bags just in case, the journey to ghoulie territory, the pouring of gasoline around the perimeter. It wasn't until she walked away three hours later, the sound of sirens and maybe screams filling the air and the blistering of wood heating the atmosphere, that she thought again of Cheryl and decided being a bitch in high school was no judge of her true character.

 

 

 

Finally Saturday morning rolled around, and Toni found herself buzzing with excitement, having missed the redhead a disproportionate amount. She had run an easy drugs drop off with Betty earlier in the evening, but come 5am she was standing in wait at the address she’d given Cheryl, aching for the feeling of her lips against hers once again and silently hoping that she would feel the same.

 

The girl rounded the corner, carrying herself with as much dignity and poise as usual despite the insane location and timing. Cheryl was dressed in black leggings and a black hoodie with blood red flowers sewn down each arm. It was the most practical outfit Toni had seen her in yet, which was useful- after a long, desperate initial kiss, they began the hike up the fire escape stairs until they reached the very top floor.

 

Toni pushed open the hatch to allow them access to the roof, and shyly presented the area to Cheryl, who gasped. Strings of fairy lights hung above a little hollow in the roof, filled with soft blankets and two mugs, waiting to be filled with hot chocolate from the thermos in Toni's backpack.

 

The fairy lights shone through the darkness, illuminating Cheryl’s grin in the pre-dawn darkness. “You put all this together?” She questioned.

 

“Uh, yeah. It really isn’t much...” Toni trailed off, thinking back to the supposed rich fantasy Cheryl lived in according to Betty and feeling suddenly very small.

 

Cheryl pressed a kiss to her lips. “No, it’s great.”

 

Once they had settled in, cradling mugs of hot chocolate and seeing the first streaks of colour light up the sky, they fell into easy conversation, soaking up the time they could enjoy with one another. By the time the colours were spilling over the city scape laid out below them, Cheryl had been starting to yawn. She smiled apologetically. “This is wonderful, I’m just not used to early mornings.”

 

Toni laughed, “you’ve probably never been up at 4 in the morning.”

 

Cheryl looked slightly mournful at her accusation. “You’d be surprised. There’s been plenty of Friday nights out where I’ve gotten home in the little hours ofSaturday morning.”

 

Toni thought back to their first meeting, Cheryl in a little clubbing dress and hiding from her date in an alley, and was curious. “Do you like it? Clubbing?”

 

She’d laughed. “Honestly, no,” She expression turned sheepish. “One of the best nights out I’ve had in a long time is the one where I met you, actually.”

 

“Then why do you go?”

 

“I can stay out all night and sleep through the morning, or stay at a friends house if I go out clubbing. The more time I can avoid my parents, the better.” She replied, the smallest hint of bitterness evident in her tone.

 

Toni couldn’t help but feel sorry for her, and asked, “Are they really that bad?”

 

Cheryl had gained a far away look in her eye. “Trust me, they are.”

 

And as the weeks went by, Toni realised she was not exaggerating. With every sunrise they spent together, Cheryl opened up a little bit more, telling stories of her childhood in which she was neglected and put down, mentioning Clifford and Penelope’s rampant favouritism and homophobia, even insinuating that her parents may have played some role in her twin’s tragic death. (Officially, Jason had drowned during a father-son fishing trip, but the body was never recovered.) Of course, their meetings were not all doom and gloom. Over that month, they became well acquainted with each other’s bodies too, at liberty to do whatever they wanted hidden on the rooftops. What had been an initially flirtatious meeting had bloomed into something passionate and special, something Toni deeply treasured. She was falling in over on every level- physically yes, but also emotionally, mentally. Toni was the happiest she could remember being in a long time, spending her mornings with Cheryl and her nights with Sweet Pea and Fangs, doing whatever job FP Jones to could to throw at her with pleasure so she could use the money to fund their dates.

 

She’d really splurged that night, buying them a bottle of prosecco and two champagne flutes, and they’d spent another crisp sunrise wrapped in blankets and treating the other like royalty. Cheryl had been reluctant to leave that morning, wanting nothing more than to curl up into Toni’s side and take an early morning nap, but she’d forced her to slip her shoes back on and coaxed her to leave, somewhat ironically, with a long slow kiss. They’d walked towards the hatch that would let them rush down the fire escape and part ways for another short time, but the hatch swung open before Cheryl could put a hand to it and open it.

 

Oh shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the record, in this universe any relationship between Polly and Jason or the coopers and blossoms hasn’t sheen included, including Cheryl being involved in faking Jason’s death, it just didn’t quite fit the story I want to tell here!
> 
> Thank you guys for reading :)


	6. The discovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody, thank you for keeping up with this story! I’m sorry updates have been slow, I hate it when that happened to the stories I’m reading so I’ll try and have the next chapter up soon, especially as we’re getting close to the main action!

Fangs' face stared up at the two of them in shock, confusion creasing his brow as his gaze roamed over Cheryl, Toni, their interconnected hands. She felt frozen in place, caught like a child stealing the last cookie from the jar.

 

"Oh, Antoinette, what have you done?" He breathed out, bringing out her full name just for the occasion.

 

"Fangs, I can...I can explain..." she stuttered out with an eye on her best friends face.

 

"No, I don't think you have to." He responded carefully. "It's clear what's going on here." She expected him to be furious, but instead there's some other emotion flashing in his eyes she can't quite discern.

 

"Fangs..." she trailed off, unsure of herself.

 

"Why didn't you tell us?" His next sentence surprised her, and she realised that look in his eyes was hurt, not judgement or anger.

 

'I didn't want to drag you into it and hurt you if I was found out." She words fell into the space between them, and something inside her whispered 'but I already have hurt you.'

 

"Yeah, and if you get caught I'm sure the higher ups would believe we didn't know a thing and let us go with no repercussions," he said sarcastically.

 

Cheryl, who Toni had nearly forgotten was there holding onto her hand, spoke up tentatively . "Should I leave?"

 

"Do you know the way out?" Fangs shot back, despite the redhead having directed the question to Toni.

 

Cheryl nodded confidently and Fangs turned to Toni, "so if she can navigate our neighbourhood, how many times have you done this? How long has this been going on?" The smallest hint of anger had crept into his voice now.

 

She sighed. "Six weeks."

 

Fangs seemed at a loss for words, an inner battle clearly raging within him. The three waited, the sun rising higher in the sky and casting shadows of the scene on the roof. Finally, he turned to Cheryl. "Then you'd better stay a while longer. We're going down to our apartment."

 

Toni clutched her temple with her hand. "Sweet Pea will kill me."

 

"Toni..." Fangs' chastised her in a warning tone.

 

"Okay fine, you both deserve an explanation- I owe you that much."

 

 

 

They walked along to their apartment building, up the six flights of stairs and down the corridor (with only 3 lights out of 9 that worked) to their home. Cheryl had the sense to keep any sneer or pity out of her expression at her surroundings, but there was a healthy amount of fear in her gorgeous brown eyes at the chance that this could all end very very badly for Toni. If she was honest with herself, she didn't know how this would end either. The serpents were a family and so Fangs and Sweet Pea should be loyal to their gang and turn Toni in for her relationship with a non-serpent. But the three of them were a family too- the two loyalties were at odds and for the first time in a long time she wasn't confident how her best friends would act.

 

Everything she cared about in life was at odds. Loving Cheryl and loving her gang; looking after her friends and looking after herself; loyalty to her serpents and loyalty to her heart. Fangs slid the key into the lock, and for the first time, she wondered what it might feel like to die at the hands of the gang members she'd known her whole life because of her disloyalty. (She still remembers that fateful day, years ago, when her Mom's friend Melissa ran into their home screaming that they knew, they knew, and Toni was sent to her room and they never saw Melissa or her nice northside accountant boyfriend David ever again.)

 

 

 

Sweet Pea stared at them as they arrived, the greeting on his lips trailing off as Cheryl entered the two room apartment.

 

"What the fuck is going on?" He asked, worry and alarm evident in his voice.

 

Toni stepped forward. "I've got to confess something."

 

 

So she started talking, describing how the two girls had met, that first date, the endless subsequent mornings spent together on the roof top. At some point her throat had tightened with the effort of keeping back tears, and when she'd finished the boys only had one question.

 

"Do you love her?"

 

Toni looked around to Cheryl, perched on the sofa with tears in her own eyes, fiercely beautiful inside and out. Over the time they'd been together Toni had learned about all her intricacies and her scars, learned about her complex mind and secretly big heart waiting for someone to love her so she could love back. Cheryl Blossom was sitting in her shitty apartment in the roughest area of town just for her and wasn't about to quit- so Toni wasn't either.

 

"Yeah. Yeah, I think I do." She said, spinning to face the boys again.

 

"Okay," Sweet Pea responded, planting his hands on the kitchen bar to lean towards her. "Then we'll help you to keep seeing her."

 

She was shocked. "Really? You're not going to turn me in to FP?"

 

Fangs let out a chuckle. "Toni, you really thought we'd do that?"

 

No, she hadn't, not deep in her heart, but the confirmation steadied her a little.

 

"Topaz, I'm still pissed you didn't tell us, but turn you in? Never." Added Sweet Pea.

 

Her legs nearly let out underneath her in relief as she made a movement forward into Fang's chest, and the three of them stood there hugging until Cheryl cleared her throat reminding them of her presence.

 

When they broke apart, Fangs plastered a serious look on his face. "Now, Miss Blossom." He began in a ridiculously posh accent, "tell us why you think you're good enough to date our dear Antionette?"

 

Cheryl glanced at Toni with a laugh. "I can't believe that's your full name." Then she turned to Fangs, playing along in a strange accent "Why, Mr Fogarty! I am the heir to a large fortune, I shall care for your friend wonderfully!"

 

"Wrong answer. The only reason you can ever be good enough for Toni is if you bring us baked goods." Sweet Pea added, deadpan.

 

"Hey, you can't buy my affection by baking for my friends!" She laughed along. "You have to bake for me, too."

 

The four of them let out a laugh, and the whole world seemed just right for a second, despite the threat of discovery looming ever close outside the confines of their home.


	7. The abuse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, I can’t believe we’re now we’ll iber half way with this story! I’m so thankful to all of you who read and comment and leave kudos, I’m so pleased you like this little story, and enjoy the latest chapter- the real climax of the story will come next chapter, so keeep an eye out for it!

Things got better after that, back on the same team as Fangs and Sweet Pea. Thanks to their ever present willingness to cover her ass and take on her jobs (because ‘Toni let’s be real she’s out of your league we gotta help you keep her’) Toni saw more of Cheryl in the next month than they ever thought would be possible in their odd relationship. Their rooftop dates became a staple of their weekly routines, the lady behind the counter in the donut shop learnt their names, and Cheryl even put in an appearance in their apartment on Boxing Day to celebrate Christmas, smuggled in by Fangs’ while half the gang was out selling hard drugs to rich kids with too much Christmas money.

 

Her days were split between tangling her hands in long red hair for kisses that took her breath away, and running out of breath from laughing too hard with her best friends, and it was perfect and fragile and too good and not enough all at once.

 

It came crashing down with a flinch.

 

 

They had their first argument on a freezing Tuesday in January, walking back down Sweetwater way, when Cheryl asked one too many questions about being and becoming a serpent.

 

Toni turned to face her, grinding to a halt, eyes narrowed. “What’s this really about, Cher?”

 

She looked guilty. “I’m just curious.”

 

“Well, it better be only curiosity,” she replied as she folded her arms. “Because I would never let you.”

 

This caught the taller girls attention, her eyes narrowing in equal measure. “Really? Never?”

 

“Yes.” Toni moved off again, assuming the matter was closed.

 

“Why not?” Came her reply, and Toni was reminded of how they met, what with the boldness in her tone.

 

“Because I would never wish my fucking life with the serpents on anyone, especially if you don’t need it to survive!” She snapped, her tone rising. That’s when it happened. Cheryl flinched away, suddenly three shades paler and stumbling to put more distance between them.

 

“Okay.” She muttered quietly, trying to cover up her response, but clearly terrified.

 

Toni’s expression melted. “Oh god, I’m not really angry, are you okay?”

 

She didn’t get a response, just a kiss, but it sparked suspicion about those miserable parents Cheryl put up with.

 

It was the scars and bruises, discovered two weeks later, that confirmed it. They had escaped upstate in Cheryl’s red convertible for a night away and an early valentines (the debts she owed her two best friends were piling ever higher). The whole thing was bliss, cherry cola and vanilla flavoured kisses, hair flowing in the breeze as they raced down highways outside the city, until after dinner. Back in their room Toni had slid off her clothes and climbed into the single most comfortable bed ever while Cheryl showered. Perfect and fragile and too good and not enough-she let the towel drop while she slipped on her pyjamas, and Toni saw it all. Her pale back was marred with dark red welts on her skin, scattered on top of a selection of raised white scars that speaks to long time pain. Under her rib cage, a dark mottled bruise was blooming.

 

Cheryl turned around to her girlfriends horrified face, and the two of them ended up in tears. Surrounded by crisp white sheets, they held each other

as Cheryl poured her heart out. It had started when Jason died 3 years ago- It was mainly Penelope, she felt, although it was her father’s belt that marked her back. Toni felt something break inside her the more Cheryl poured out, and it was all she could do to whisper that she loved her until the redhead fell into uneasy sleep, thankfully miles away from the Blossoms for one night.

 

 

 

 

A rage clouded Toni’s mind for the next few days after their trip, her mind retracing Cheryl’s tear stained face and discoloured back. Despite months of her being missing in action and constantly distracted, it was this hatred for what the blossoms could do to their own daughter that finally alerted Jughead something was up.

 

“Topaz, you’ve been different lately.” It had been a casual observation after half an hour in the Wyrm where she’d knocked back 6 shots.

 

“Oh really?”

 

“Yeah. Unsettled, I guess?” He questioned.

 

She was slightly too drunk for alarm bells about her relationship to be sounding. “Well, yeah. It’s been a weird few days Jug.”

 

Betty’s good nature had clearly rubbed off on him. “Want to talk about it?”

 

“No. Tell me something to distract me instead.” She replied, as a ploy to get him to talk so she could get back to thinking of ways to protect Cheryl forever.

 

“Well...l he leaned in conspiratorially. “Dad has been saying that a revival of project B is coming.”

 

“Wait, fuck. Really?” That caught her attention through her alcohol and rage induced stupeur.

 

“Don’t tell anyone, obviously T, but yeah, this could be huge for us.” He spoke so quietly about the project it was hard to make him out over the noise of the bar after that, but even the idea of project B? It was insane to Toni.

 

The details to the job that increased serpent income by 1 million dollars three years ago were top secret, with even Jughead left out in the cold to the best of her knowledge. All they needed to know that it was the highest earning deal in serpent history, the one deal with the closest brushings with law enforcement in the past decade, and FP and the higher ups would be thrilled, and also very occupied, if they were to repeat it.

 

Perfect and fragile and too good and not enough, a girlfriend with an abusive family, a bunch of easily riled up serpents, the higher ups busy concocting a plan to make a load of cash- an idea formed in her head. She was going to save Cheryl herself, or what was her loyalty to these people really for?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While it was only briefly mentioned, in my head Cheryl’s Christmas visit was much more fleshed out- she brings Sweet Pea a leather laptop bag, Fangs a set of Nana Rose’s recipes and all the ingredients needed, and Toni a phone, so that they’re never out of contact, already filled with pictures of the two of them and a sunset tracker for their dates.
> 
> Thank you for reading, please let me know what you think of the story and what you think will happen next!


	8. The attack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, this is a big chapter! I really hope you enjoy it, it’s mire action packed than my usual writing so a bit of a challenge for me, but starts to tie some story elements together.

She was lacing up her boots when Fangs' hand fell lightly onto her leather clad shoulder.

 

"You ready, Tiny?"

 

She nodded. "Strangely, yeah, I am." Her words felt true- after weeks of whispering rumours of betrayal against the serpents into the right ears at the right time, of mentioning the supposed sins of the Blossoms against the serpents during passionate and inebriated nights at the Wyrm, of plotting that Cheryl would stay at her best friend Veronica’s house when needed and of drawing information from Jughead about when the higher ups would be occupied with project B so they had a window to act, she was finally ready. When they were finished, no Blossom would ever hurt her girlfriend again.

 

The night passed in flashes- 30 faces looking to her for leadership in the gloom of night. Moonlit roads beneath her feet turning from cracked concrete to smooth new tarmac. Thornhill appearing imposingly above them. Sweet Pea and Fangs flanking her, offering silent support and protection. Someone setting a bush in the manor gardens on fire just for the hell of it. And then- serpents bursting through the doors and beginning a rampage while she walked straight to the master bedroom.

 

The doors swung open at her touch to reveal two redheads sitting straight up in bed, halfway between anger and terror.

 

"Who are you?", demanded Clifford. He was surprisingly balding and looked the epitome of a rich old white man in his dark red silk nightshirt. Toni looked at him and saw only Cheryl's back streaked with welts that same shade.

 

"I'm your reckoning." She responded to him flippantly. Two of the other young serpents (not Sweet Pea, not Fangs, she was protecting them even through this) moved menacingly to either side of the bed, preventing the couple from calling for help. Toni moved slowly across the grand wooden floor, revelling in the click of her heeled shoes on the floor of the silent room, despite the turmoil she knew was occurring at the hands of serpents in the rest of the house.

 

"Now." she drew out the pause between her wordsas she pulled a long knife from her jacket. She placed it against Penelope's throat. "We need to talk about how you treat your daughter."

 

The older woman looked disgusted by the very mention of her. "What about her? She's not even here this evening." Her tone was steady, although Toni could tell the mention of Cheryl had thrown them. They'd most likely expected to be held ransom for their money, not their treatment of their daughter.

 

"Good. Every night she spends away from you two monsters, the better." Toni replied, feeling strangely calm, strangely icy. In control.

 

Clifford looked indignant. "So you've broken into our house to slap us on the wrist for disciplining our own child?"

 

"It's not discipline, it's abuse!" She found herself shouting back, pressing the blade of her knife into the soft skin on Penelope's pale neck, drawing blood before she regained composure.

 

"How would _you_ low life criminals know anything about Cheryl." Penelope sneered, almost unbothered by the blade because of her hatred for her own flesh and blood.

 

Toni snarled through gritted teeth. "I could tell you the whole story, but it's a long one, and by the time we'd be done I was hoping you'd be dead."

 

She motioned to the two she'd brought as muscle, and they had reached out to hold down the couple who had inflicted so much pain to the girl she loved so much. She drew out her gun, began to fiddle with it. Silence. Silence. And then-

 

"ANTOINETTE TOPAZ!" came a roar from the bellows of the huge house, and Toni's whole body felt like it shattered to a million pieces.

 

FP Jones stormed into the lush bedroom two seconds later and slammed her into the wall by the neck. The gun spun away across the floor, the two men jumped back from the bedside.

 

He leaned into her face so that she could smell the alcohol acutely. "What the fuck do you think you're doing." He hissed, emphasising every word and almost spitting them into her face.

 

She was at a total loss for words, their careful days of planning having never truly explored the possibilities of getting caught by their leader.

 

He grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and dragged her out back through the long corridors to where Tall Boy and Byrdie stood in waiting with a black van. She was pushed roughly into the back as the other serpents disappeared into the night, clearly confused at this turn of events, not knowing that they'd been going against FP. The doors shut, leaving her in blackness, and all she could see what the memory of Clifford Blossoms smirk at her apprehension swimming in front of her eyes.

 

————————

 

Toni can’t tell how long it’s been when FP enters the small room. She’s in the interrogation rooms, a location that’s farmilar enough from shifts guarding them or worse, cleaning them, blasting water until the last of the red trickles away into the drain in the centre of the tile floor. She’s tied down with zip ties and desperately wants to wriggle around to find some semblance of comfort, but stills with one look at the older mans face.

 

His whole body seems to tremble with rage, filling the room, althoughToni spent enough time with Jughead as a kid to note the disappointment and confusion evident in his eyes. He rakes a hand through his hair.

 

“I don’t get it, Topaz. Why would you orchestrate a plan like this? Against the Blossoms, of all people, who haven’t said shit about the serpents?”

 

Her eyes meet his, but no words are coming. Inside, her thoughts rage between admitting her love for Cheryl or covering her ass.

 

He sighs. “Let’s start smaller. What’s your motive?”

 

She goes for it. “Because I love someone who needs protecting.”

 

Whatever answer he expected, it wasn’t that. “Who?” There’s an edge of disbelief in his voice.

 

“This girl I met. Cheryl.” She pauses. “Cheryl Blossom.”

 

Her name hangs heavy in the air. The information that Toni has had an relationship with a non serpent seems to get stored away for later. FP creases his brow. “A blossom? Then why the fuck would you try and kill her parents?”

 

“The Blossoms abuse her. Badly.”

 

A flash of understanding in the older mans face. “Okay. Yeah, okay.” A pause. “But why fabricate all these rumours about the Blossoms being anti serpent, and drag everyone else into this crap?”

 

“How do you know the Blossoms aren’t anti serpent?” She challenges.

 

It’s obviously the wrong move, and the rage that filled the room at the beginning once again takes over, stilling FP into a terror. “You want to know how I know?” He whispers, voice wobbling with emotion, an inch from her face.

 

She nods.

 

“We work for the fucking Blossoms, Topaz!” He yells, stepping backwards.

 

The new information shocks her to her core, the rest of the puzzle snapping into place. She’s unwittingly ruined a business deal. Penelope and Clifford were only half scraped because they knew FP would never allow them to be attacked. “Since when?” She presses.

 

“Since project B, when we helped Clifford murder his boy and hide the body and got paid like royalty for it!” FP exclaims, laying everything bare in a bid for her to understand.

 

“What?” She shouts back at him. “The serpents did WHAT?”

 

Cheryl’s voice talking about Jason, fondly remembering childhood summers together and lamenting his loss, fills her ears.

 

“We did what we were paid to do.” He snarls. “And would get paid to do again, if you hadn’t just royalty messed that deal up.”

 

Do it again? Hide another body for the Blossoms?

 

“Cheryl’s parents were going to...to...” the realty slams into her, and the idea of a world without the beautiful redhead in it because of serpent actions kills something inside of her. FP nods in affirmation. Any guilt, any regret about what repercussions she has caused for the serpents is suddenly stripped away. She gathers her composure.

 

“Okay. Before you sentence me, I need to say- Fangs and Sweet Pea, they had nothing to do with the planning or my relationship with Cheryl. They came with me to the house believing, like everyone else, we were defending serpent honour after the Blossoms bad mouthed the gang.”

 

He looks at her, that disappointment still in his eyes. “Okay, Toni. I believe that.”

 

The nickname is a slap to the face but his belief in her unlikely story is one last kindness. This man made her hot chocolate after snowball fights, zipped up her coat when her fingers hadn’t yet grasped the movement, ruffled her hair along with Jughead’s when Gladys sat them at the kitchen table to learn their spellings.

 

“Then, as King of the Southside Serpents Of Riverdale City, I declare you guilty of betrayal against our gang, your family. Your punishment is the standard one. Should, by chance, you live through this punishment, you are no longer a member of the serpents and will not be welcome in our territories.”

 

She nods. She expected nothing less after the project B revelation. She only hopes Fangs and Sweets will tell Cheryl what happened. Only hopes she’s guaranteed Cheryl’s safety. Only hopes she’ll now be free to live her life. Only hopes they don’t miss her too much.

 

Any anger in FP is gone by this point, simply nodding and leaving the room as Tall Boy and a circle of 7 men crowd into the room. (She hopes death leads her to an afterlife like a thousand rooftop dates with Cheryl.)

 

She feels the brass knuckles against her jaw even before the punch lands, and her neck snaps backwards from the force, her whole body sinking down into the chair. Another lands in quick succession, her eye, then another and another, her nose this time. She feels nauseous as the taste of blood hits her tongue when she speaks.

 

“Ya know, Tall Boy, doesn’t surprise me you’re the one okay with punching a girl.”

 

The clearly furious man looming over her snarls, “Shut your fucking mouth, Topaz. Or I’ll make you.” His hand recoils again and she braces herself for the next punch until the voice of FP Jones breaks the tension.

 

“Stand down Tall Boy.” He says as he enters Toni’s limited field of view from her position tied to a rusting metal chair, and upon Tall Boy’s inaction, he snarls again.“I said stand down!” The taller man spits in her face before retreating into the shadows, his presence in her personal space immediately replaced by the beady dark eyes of FP Jones.

 

“Just more one question, Topaz. Do you regret it?”

 

She knows this is the chance to lessen her sentence and maybe survive the night, but images of red hair in the breeze, sunlight on her skin through the windows of coffee shops, the scent of vanilla and cheery cola swirl around her mind, overwhelming her and offering her a strange sort of calm.

 

“No. I don’t.” Her own voice sounds confident in the confession, and the expression on FP’s face is a shade of utter heartbrokenness, a shade too fatherly for Toni to be able to look at. He lets out a shaky breath. “Okay then.” He gives her one last look, before turning his head to the men in the shadows. “You know the punishment for betrayal against our kind then, boys.”

 

Her eyes, feeling heavy from the blood loss, flutter shut before the next punch even lands, and Toni’s last thought is of her before the world turns to black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so sorry. Stay tuned!
> 
> (Previously I mentioned Jason simply drowned, but that was when we heard about it from Cheryl’s perspective, and obviously she doesn’t know the true story.)


	9. The recovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A softer chapter now! Thank you all so much for your support in this stormy I can hardly believe I have only one chapter to go! Thank you for coming on this journey with me, and I hope you enjoy!

Slowly, slowly, her eyes peel themselves open against harsh light, heavy from lack of use. Before she takes in any of her surroundings, a familiar scent of vanilla and cherry invades her senses and red hair clouds her vision.

 

"Oh God, Toni."

 

She blinks, Cheryl's worried face coming into full view.

 

"Hi."

 

"What on earth were you thinking?"

 

Shit. Cheryl’s angry. She's blown it.

 

"I...I...was protecting you." It's a weak explanation for the events of that night, but the best she could do- man, she was tired.

 

Cheryl takes her chin gently and kisses her.

 

"And I love you for that."

 

Even the small movement hurts her to her core, and the memories of when she was last wake, being beaten to her death, remind her that really, she should be dead right now.

 

She creases her brow and goes to ask, but Cheryl lets out the softest laugh before filling in the blanks for her.

 

“Let me guess. How are you alive? Where are you? Save your breath, I’ll explain it all.” Cheryl moved into the chair beside the bed Toni is lying in, and she can just turn her head to see the girl. The room was small and sterile, with hoodies and half eaten boxes of biscuits scattered around that gave her the impression a certain trio of people close to her had spent a lot of time by her bedside.“Whoever took your pulse and declared you dead to the serpents didn’t do it correctly. When they sent Fangs and Sweet Pea to...collector your body.” Cheryl gulps, trying to maintain her composure, and Toni cringes at the mental image of her boys looking on at her beaten, nearly lifeless from in the interrogation room. “you still had a heartbeat. So they rushed you to me, and I brought you here.”

 

She tries not to think about the pain she’s imagine on Cheryl’s perfect face when the boys brought her to her girlfriend. “Here?” She asks.

 

“Veronica’s dad’s private hospital ward.” She laughs, the idea of a man owning a whole portion of hospital for his shady business clearly ludicrous to her despite her long time friendship with Veronica. “The doctors are easily bought.” Cheryl finishes with a whisper.

 

Toni cracks a smile slowly, even though it hurts. She’s tired already, and before long, sleep reclaims her again.

 

 

The next time she comes back into consciousness, the room she’s in is significantly busier. Notably, her two boys lounge around the edges of the room. Fangs jumps from his position by the door at the sight of her eyes blinking open.

 

“Toni!” The clear excitement in his voice makes her want to jump and hug him, but her beaten body holds her back.

 

“Fangs!” She manages instead, tiredness still evident in her voice. Sweet Pea moves towards her too.

 

“We’ve missed you, Tiny. It’s been a lonely two weeks.”

 

“Two weeks?!” Her mild alarm alerts the man at the other end of the room, who she can only imagine is Hiram’s doctor who is somehow, miraculously, taking care of her no questions asked.

 

“Ah, yes. Two weeks, the first a medically induced coma- then your body just took its own time to recover and you slept.” He pushes his glasses up his nose. “I’m impressed with you, though, Miss Topaz. You should feel lucky to be alive.”

 

She turns to Sweet Pea. “All those favours you owe me, Sweets? I think the whole saving my life part makes up for it.”

 

He grins softly back at her, and she can’t help but notice the sheen in his eyes before she turns back to the doctor.

 

He finishes the explanation of her various wounds mercifully quickly, Toni discovering she was mostly just very badly bruised and beaten, with only a few broken ribs, and internal bleeding which they were confident they’d fixed. As he leaves, Cheryl rounds the corner into the room, face breaking into a smile at the sight of Toni awake.

 

“Good, it’s been long enough.”

 

“I know, Cherry, so inconsiderate of her to sleep so much after getting beaten to near death.” Sweet Pea drawls, earning him a slap on the arm from the redhead. The nickname doesn’t escape Toni’s notice, and when Cheryl moves to perch on the armrest of Fang’s chair, it’s clear that the two weeks they’d waited out for her had drawn them closer.

 

“New friendships?” She asks wryly.

 

“Yeah Toni. Cherry’s our friend now- your contract as our friend has been terminated.”

 

She blew air out of her nostrils at him. “Wow, thanks. A girl nearly dies and wakes up to find her girlfriend has taken her place.”

 

It earns her an easy laugh from the group, and some part of her life slots back into place, banter continuing until exhaustion claims her again.

 

 

The banter continues throughout the next month, as she conquers sitting up again, and standing, and staying awake for regular amounts of time, the four of them holed up in a tiny hospital room. Sweets and Fangs are always absent in the evenings, still doing serpent jobs and pretending to mourn her, but Cheryl rarely leaves her side. She even gets a visit from Veronica herself, who throws her arms around Toni and thanks her for saving ‘her best gal’, and even though her hug sets recovery back by at least a few days, she returns it gladly, because in a way, her reckless, passion induced bid to rid Cheryl of her miserable parents had saved her from them. Funnily enough, Cheryl’s newly discovered information thather beloved twin brother’s death was planned and orchestrated by Penelope and Clifford was keeping the pair at bay, and the risk for the serpents meant any future plans between Blossom and Serpent were looking unlikely.

 

Time flies, until it’s been two months, and Toni’s body starts to feel like hers again. They take a pile of blankets and head to the roof of Cheryl’s new apartment building, where the pair had moved that month, and have another roof top date in the small hours of the morning.

 

The fresh air of the new spring stung their cheeks, and Toni shuffled closer to the warm girl beside her.

 

“We’ve come a long way.” Cheryl murmurs, staring out over up the Northside of the city.

 

“Literally and figuratively.” She replies, remembering the their first date on the Northside, licking icing from her donut while they charmed each other. She remembers thinking it was like living a totally different life, one without gangs and shady business deals and midnight stakeouts. A life, she guess, she’s free to live now.

 

“God, I can’t believe six months ago I was contemplating dating nick saint dick.” Cheryl laughs, obviously similarly reminiscing about their relationship.

 

“Yeah. Good thing I was there to save you from that.” She sits up more, moving gingerly, until she stares into Cheryl’s deep brown eyes. “I’ve always wondered. Why did you even talk to me then, a shady figure in an alley?”

 

She sighs, the warmth of her breath so close tickling the end of Toni’s nose. “I honestly didn’t care what happened to me that night. Sure, I had plans and popularity and Veronica... but I was miserable under my parents thumb, forced to seem this heartless bitch for years at school, still missing Jason...” she trails off.

 

Toni shoots her a small sad smile. “But I could’ve been an axe murderer.”

 

Cheryl returns the gaze. “I wouldn’t have minded dying, back then.” The confession hangs in the air between them before she continues. “But look at me now, with a girl I love, free, questions about Jason answered, with a new place and new friends. You’ve helped me with all of this.”

 

Toni feels her face soften. “Cheryl, you’ve transformed me. You’ve helped me to take risks, escape a gang I’d been unhappy in, despite being too comfortable to realise that fact.” They move closer to each other, craving warmth and love under the pink tinted skies. “When I was in that room, convinced I was going to die, FP Jones asked if I regretted my actions, our relationship. I said no. I’ve never, ever regretted you.”

 

Their lips meet in a kiss and it sends sparks flying all over Toni with its care and tenderness. They deepen it then, rolling onto the concrete of the roof as they let their passion fill the space around them. Cheryl leans back, whispers that she loves her into Toni’s ear, and they get lost in each other as the skies light up around them and the city comes to life, tragically ignorant to the love poured out on a small Northside rooftop that seemed all encompassing to them both.

 

(She’s fully discharged in April, they go on holidays to Florida in May, and in June she opens to door one morning to Betty Cooper on their landing. She recoils.)

 

“Betty.”

 

There’s something akin to pride and joy on the blonde girl’s features. “You’re alive.” She breaths out.

 

“You shouldn’t be here.” She responds curtly. Legally, Toni Topaz is dead. She takes photography classes at the local arts collage under a fake name they paid royally for.

 

“Jughead doesn’t know I’m here.” It’s an olive branch of sorts.

 

“Good.” She lets her voice soften. “Betty, why are you here? How did you find me?”

 

She rattles off some explanation about Instagram and tagged photos and Sweet Pea’s laptop that Toni doesn’t quite listen to- Betty’s always been quite the detective- and then, finally-

 

“I’m here to warn you.”

 

That catches her attention. “Warn me of what?”

 

“I’ve heard whispers that everything about the Blossom incident doesn’t line up. Sweets and Fangs don’t always manage to talk about you in the past tense, Cheryl almost disappeared for a month after the attack... I’m not sure how safe you are.”

 

Perfect and fragile and too good and not enough all at once. She swallows. “Well, if you’ve found me anyone could, I suppose.” She pauses to think. Betty shifts her wait from one foot to the other, until Toni adds genuinely, “Thank you, Betts. Really.”

 

After the initial conversation and a minuscule amount of small talk, she hands Betty a letter, one she had hidden away for a while now. “Give this to Sweet Pea and Fangs.”

 

Betty nods. “Be safe, Toni.”

 

She smiles sadly. “You too, Betts.” She closes the door and sinks down against it. If she was caught alive, they’d kill not only her this time, but Cheryl, Fangs, Sweet Pea. Those people were worth protecting at all costs for her, they were always the top priority, more than any gang, more than any blissful domestic life for her.

 

Within two hours she packs up all her stuff, leaves the key under the mat and hopes to God one day Cheryl might find it in her awfully big heart to forgive her for trying to save her once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be an epilogue of sorts, I love my core dour of Sweet Pea, Fangs, Cheryl and Toni, and I’m not quite finished with them yet!


	10. The letter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaam we’re finished! Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to read my little story, has commented and has left kudos. Though it’s far from perfect, this is my first multi chapter story and really pushed me out of my comfort zone, and your support is much appreciated!
> 
> Enjoy this final instalment :)

Dear Cheryl,

 

I hope this letter finds you well and happy. I sent it to the address of the apartment. I can only hope it makes its way to you, and that you can read it without hating me too much.

 

Firstly, I’m sorry. I was immature to leave at the first sight of danger and not at least talk to you about the possibility the serpents might have found us. There hasn’t been a single day in the three years since I saw you that I dont regret that- but in the heat of the moment, your safety was paramount. Growing up in the serpents, the safety of the people I love has always had to be paramount, even at personal sacrifice. But leaving- that was one sacrifice I didnt have to make. One sacrifice I shouldn’t have made.

 

I think about you all the time. I hope you’re still chasing your dreams, kicking ass in Law School. You’re still going places, Blossom. There’s no doubt in my mind about that. Maybe I’ll cross paths with you in court someday- I’m in training to be a social worker, here. I know! It’s not something I ever thought I’d be doing, but I started volunteering with an organisation to help kids in rough neighbourhoods, and one thing led to another and I fell in love with the work I do. We take the kids on nature walks, teach them life skills, advocate for them. Anything to keep them out of the gangs around here, keep them from the existence Fangs, Sweet Pea and I had. Chicago is nice, but it can be rough too.

 

It was one of those nature walks that made me want to reach out to you. We were walking along, sunlight streaming through the trees. I was surrounded by nature, but totally alone. I’ve felt alone ever since I left you, and I just hope this gives me closure, at least. I don’t even know if I’ll send this.

 

Cheryl Blossom. I hope you’re happy. I hope you can look back on our time together, young and in love, and remember the good. And I wish you all the best.

 

All my love,

Toni Topaz.

 

——————

 

Her phone chirps from her dresser while she’s in the middle of ironing her clothes, and she groans to see Dave’s name requesting her presence at the centre three hours earlier than planned for a briefing. Chores will have to wait, then. She pulls on jeans and makes a vain attempt to tame her hair- still pink, now just a little damaged- before leaving, locking the door behind her and walking out unto the street with intentions to head to the garage and take her motorcycle to work. And then- it’s like seeing a ghost and a dream all at once.

 

Across the road, clutching both a folded piece of paper and her phone, with a frown on her face, is Cheryl Blossom. In Chicago, at her apartment. She’s staring up at the nice building with a frown, and clearly doesn’t spot her, until her eyes scan down to the door. Toni feels frozen. She’s here, she got the letter. Why is she here?

 

Cheryl crosses the street, their eyes never leaving the other’s. She looks gorgeous, dressed in black and white checkered trousers and a blood red blouse to match her high heels, looking for all the world like a hot shot lawyer. She has the vague sense she’s underdressed, even outside her own apartment building.

 

“Hi.” Cheryl whispers, and somehow that’s enough.

 

“Hi.” She pauses. “How did you find my apartment?”

 

Cheryl looked sly. “Return address on the envelope.”

 

“Damn.” Toni chuckles. “That wasn’t even intentional.” Cheryl looks her up and down, smiling softly.

 

“Well, then I’m glad you made a mistake.” There’s a long pause, the two both lost in the wonder of seeing each other again. Cheryl breaks it first.

 

“I’ve missed you every single day. What you wrote in the letter- I feel exactly the same, Toni.”

 

A deep warmth, long absent from her, invades every part of her. “You do? She breathes, hardly believing it. “You don’t hate me?”

 

“I did, at first.” She admits, “But I loved- love, you too much to hold any anger against you.”

 

There’s still a world of questions, of things to work out, of problems to solve. But in this moment, none of it matters. They have each other once more.

 

“I love you, too.” She replied, joy evident in her tone. Joy, joy, joy. She invites her inside, and texts Dave. She’ll be late for work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for coming on this journey with me. If you’ve been reading along and haven’t yet, please leave me a comment and let me know what you thought!
> 
> Thank you all for reading :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, all feedback is appreciated and comments make my day!


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